The dress was first worn first in 1962 by Marilyn Monroe

Kardashian reportedly lost 16lbs to fit into Monroe’s famous “Happy Birthday Mr President” dress, which later sparked a debate about whether she had damaged it. The reality TV star denies this.

While appearing on NBC’s Today Show, the 43-year-old said she was shocked at how many people knew nothing about the actress.

“We were just talking, you said you were shocked on TikTok, some people don’t even know who Marilyn Monroe was,” said host Savannah Guthrie.

In response, the mother of four said: “That was the most shocking thing to me and that’s why I was so happy to at least have that opportunity and that Ripley’s gave me the opportunity to share this moment so that it could live on.”

These photos of the damage done to Marilyn Monroe’s dress before and after it was worn by Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala… I need to go lay down pic.twitter.com/63QwC8l10J

— Sarah McGonagall (@gothspiderbitch) June 13, 2022

The famous dress was worn by Monroe in Madison Square Garden in 1962, just three months before her death. While President John F. Kennedy branded her rendition of Happy Birthday as “wholesome”, a large number of people thought it was inappropriate and innately sexual.

Kardashian has been slammed for choosing to wear the one-of-a-kind dress, with many suggesting she was only doing it for the clout. But as she told Guthrie, she understands “how much this dress means to American history.”

no offense but i literally could not care less that kim kardashian messed up marilyn monroe’s dress. i will never afford a home

— trash jones (@jzux) June 14, 2022

“With the theme being American, I thought what is more American than Marilyn Monroe singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the president of the United States,” she explained.

Regardless of her intentions, many experts have criticised the social media maven.

Friendly reminder that Marilyn WAS a historical figure. She was an activist for orphans/foster kids, a gay ally before it was cool, and used her fame to get Ella Fitzgerald a gig that launched her career. This dress is a piece of history and kim gave no fucks. https://t.co/ekllBOXago

— Feral Fiancée (@sicobutcute) June 13, 2022

“You can’t even handle a dress like that without damaging it in some way, let alone wear it, so it was inevitable that there was going to be significant damage just by even wearing it on the red carpet,” Dr Kate Strasdin told the BBC.

“There will have been oils in her skin, there will have been all of that chemical reaction with a silk that is fragile.”

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